Linking & Data Injection

In this section I'll cover the processes that take place within the Character Blueprint (CBP_SandboxCharacter_DAO) which are responsible for linking the linked anim layer instances and passing the appropriate data to them. HeldObject State:

This is essentially the ID of the Item we are holding and is stored in a struct correlating to the hand for which the item is in. When this is updated the Item Linked Anim Layers get linked and the data is sent to them from the Notify Event associated with this HeldObject State Variable.

NOTE: This may be refactored later so that it is retrieved directly from the Item References Held Object Actor Component Instead. It's important to note though that this existed before the Item Handling System was fully flushed out and also it's still likely cheaper to have a local reference to it then it would be to retrieve it externally whenever needed.

Items In Hand: This stores a reference to the actual Actors that are currently in the Characters hands.

HeldObject Stance: This determines that Stance that your currently in. At the time of this Documentation there are only 2 Stances used currently in the project, Aim, and Ready. Ready is when your not aiming and the other is self explanatory. Tracking the stance is important for several reasons. One reason is that the Bonus Feature for IK Retargeting during Run-Time will use the stance to apply different IK Offsets to the IK Retargeter Arm Chain Bone Settings. These settings are sent to the Generic Retargeter where it is then handled automatically.